News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-11-24
RANDITTI OF THE BORDER.
A Handsome RObber Chieftain and
His Italian Methods of Brigand-
age.

|
age.
A San Antonio special to New Orleans
Picaulne says: Not since the Cortinas
raid. years and years ago, has the Texan
side of the lower Rio Grande been I'M
der such reign of terror as now. Brig
andage is supreme, business is paralyzed,
United States mails get through when
| they can, ranchmen stay close at home,
labor in the fields even is accompanied
by unusual hazards, ana in no mans
house is there a light to be seen after
dark. The county officials have tele-
graphed to the State Government for
aid, but Gov. Ross himself does not
! know what to do.
Sheriffs and United States marshaIs
are powerless, and the landit is once
more in fact, as he was,1.nce III song and
story, ''king of the boiJter.
Senior Manuel Guerro. q merchant
who is rated at 5000, 900 and who has
shops in both Roma and Rio Grande
CITY, Starr County, is on his way to
New York. He was seen by reporter
and gave the following account of the
trouble:
"You must first understand" he said,
s'the condition of the country. 1t is
hilly: the Rio Grande runs through one
long ravine, is densely covered with
chapparal and cactus, is sparsely settled
and offers shelter impregnable for hun
dreds of desperadoes.
.'They have always infested the coun-
try to greater or less extent. If they
killed q man in Mexico they stepped
across to Texas; if in Texas, they step
ped across to Mexico. They had prac-
tically unlimited field in which to work.
Hitherto they have been disorganized.
Now they are under a leader who is at
once the most competent and dangerous
man on the frontier cf either country.
His name is Antonio de SeJTrante. He
is young. handsome, educated, and
most daring and unscrupulous scound-
rel. He is native of the country and
knows it well. He has risen to fame in
the past three months through methods
peculiarly his own He has now gone
in for highway mail or train robbery.
"He has learned the methods of the
italian brigands and follows them
exactly. His system includes capture,
violent mistreatment and heavy ransom
or death.
ellis first victim was Senor Berrena,
a rich ranchman who resides in Texas,
fully sixty miles from the Rio Grande.
This gentleman was found near his
home, knocked down, beaten, bound
hand and foot, tied on a horse and driv
en- for day and night through the
thorny brush. During all this time he
was blindfolded, ann given neither wa
ter nor food. On arrival at the robbers
headquarters, of whose location he is
entirely ignorant, he was held for twen-
ty-one days, until myself paid the ST.
500 ransom exacted for his release. He
was half starved, kicked, lashed and
burned daily during all this time, and
was in hourly dread of losing his teeth,
it being frequent threat of Seurrante
to extract them all, and send them as
presents to his friends. | paid the
money because [ knew it was matter
of life or death with him. It has since
been refunded me. b. as seven,
Gy!T1a4s--s - " o oleets.x nd.
brutality to which ne WsSs subjected have
since resulted in his death.
lowing to the fact that have q lit
tie money and the Seurrante people
knew it, have been expecting the lev
ying of an assessment.
'I left Roma five days ago under
guard of six armed men, who escorted
me rs far as Pena station, on the MeXi-
can National Railway. BY Associated
Press dispatches of this morning, L see
that the expected demand has been
made upon me since my departure, and
also upon SenOr Deonacio Garcia, OF
Rio Grande City. They want $4,000
from him, and $4,000 from me. My
part of it, at least, they are not likely
| to get.
"The governor has of course promised
the aid of the State troops, but [ don't
see the good that they can do, owing not
| only to the difficulty of the country and
Suerrante's secure hiding place, but to
the fact that nearly all of the poorer
class are in league with the band, and
purposely hide their den and cover up
their tracks. I estimate that some twen-
ty-fve men belong to the band.
"Seurrante is a magnificent rascal,
who spends his i'll gotten gains very
freely, and is uniformly kind to the
| poor Tney have consequently invested
/ him with a good deal of romance, and
many of them serve him and are ready
to join him at any moment.
|'I have no hesitancy in predicting o
desperate battle in the region within
the next month, and am by no means
sure that Seurrante will get the worst of
| it.
s'He has been extending his opera
tions in Mexico, and I understand that
the authorities and soldiers on the other
side of the river are on the qui vive. He
may be caught between the two fires,
and he may not He is very smart
man."
Senior Guerro states that he will con-
tinue his northern trip, though he is
extremely fearful of the destruction of
his property during his absence. .
The widely spread information of the
depredations has caused intense excite
ment throughout this portion of the
State, and volunteers for clearing out
Starr and Hidalgo counties are numer-
/ OuS